Please welcome HelenKay Dimon!

Katie Long was supposed to be undercover. She was just supposed to watch Deputy Prosecutor Eric Kimura at his ex’s wedding and gather intel on his campaign for prosecutor. But he’s a lot hotter in person, and the kind of intel they accidentally shared in the hotel bathroom might lose both of them their jobs. Especially since it seems to be a recurring incident. Is it possible for a one-night stand to last ten days?

Kimura isn’t usually the impulsive type. He’s driven, he’s ambitious, and he knows what he wants—a respectable future in Hawaii politics. Which means wild half-public sex with a beautiful stranger in a short little caterer’s skirt is just tabloid fodder waiting to happen. Conveniently, just as his campaign is coming under attack. Sabotage, media gossip, and an insatiable desire for a woman he just met? If he’s not careful, Counselor Kimura might lose all control…

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Thank you so much for letting me stop by today and talk about my newest release, IMPULSIVE.  I’m very excited about this book.  It’s the fifth book I’ve written that’s set in Hawaii.  Specifically, this one follows a straight-laced prosecutor, Eric Kimura, and the wild child heroine who brings a little fun back into this life, Katie Long.

Eric is one of those heroes I never intended to write.  He was a secondary character in my previous single title contemporary, HOLDING OUT FOR A HERO.  I intended for him to play a small role – really small – and never be seen again.  But as I wrote, Eric’s role grew.  He was the ex-boyfriend of the heroine in that book.  Not the typical romance novel jerky, two-timing ex, but a decent guy.  By the end of the book, I knew Eric needed a happy ending.

Writing his story created a new problem.  See, Eric is an only child of Japanese parents who grew up in Hawaii.  My real-life husband is an attorney, an only child of Japanese parents who grew up in Hawaii…in other words, a bit too close to Eric in outside terms.  I don’t know about you, but the idea of writing a romance starring someone like my husband and having him end up with someone other than me…well, that was not going to happen.  I wanted fiction!  So, for the first time while writing a story, I depended on some visual aids to keep the focus on Eric, my non-husband.

First, I wanted to get the sense of what he looked like stuck in my head.  Actor Abe Hiroshi helped with that one.  I found this photo and thought – that’s him!  He’s handsome, put-together, commanding…and did I mention handsome?  The fact he’s wearing a suit helps.  Gives him that lawyer look I was hunting for.

Coming up with visual queues for some of the scenes in IMPULSIVE was not hard either.  Many I had from my photo collection here at home.  My in-laws live there and we visit often.  How lucky am I?  This intimate knowledge let me pick out some of my favorite spots form memory and highlight them.  For example, there is a scene where Eric is at a memorial service for his grandmother.  It takes place at a temple.  I modeled my temple on the real Byodo-In Temple.  It’s in the middle of a park and just gorgeous.  For those who watched the tv show Lost, you may recognize it from flashbacks as the site where Sun and Jin got married.

 

While Eric lives in downtown Honolulu to be close to the office, his parents live in a different part of the island.  The same part where my hubby grew up.  Honestly, I picked the area because it’s one of my favorite on Oahu.  Kailua is far from the tourist crowds.  You drive through the majestic Ko-olau mountains to get there.  And if you drive a little farther, you’ll get to my favorite ocean watching spot, Lanikai Beach.

So, while the book is pure fiction, the beauty of Hawaii is not.  I wanted to capture a bit of it in my mind and then get it on the page.  I hope I did that and I hope you’ll check out IMPULSIVE.

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Two readers will win a copy of HOLDING OUT FOR A HERO, the book where we first meet Eric. Leave a comment below to be entered in the drawing. Good luck 🙂

Also, a big thank you to HelenKay for joining us today! To find out more about HelenKay, please visit her website at www.helenkaydimon.com.